Apple Lossless vs iTunes Plus

Hey Marco.

Would really like to explore something different than iTunes. I'm not a brainiac with some of this stuff and I've not had time to fully investigate ripping or playback options. Does Apple's latest OS support EAC or dbPoweramp? While I think the Mac Mini w/ latest version of iTunes is very good the one thing I don't like is it seems I'm kinda locked out by Apple to a lot of ripping and/or playback options. Am I correct here?

Cheers Marco!

Robert
RSAD

Hi Robert - I think there are some FLAC conversion software options (MacFlac), but I'm not really familiar with them, nor their effectiveness. If they work like the EAC conversion my friend did, I'd be pretty happy and willing to try them. With the EAC WAV to AL you loose all the metadata (read: very bad...major PITA to manually replace it). Same with EAC, it would have to be converted. Alas, ALAC. Someone with more geek creds will have to help us here, Robert.

Just wanted to jump in and thank the posters here for one of the most intelligently written and thought-provoking digital threads I've seen here.

Unfortunately, I can't conclude much other than to focus on my analog and wait out some more progress before taking any big steps toward looking at computer-based audio and/or ripping all my CDs(in the ultimately wrong format--that being whichever one I choose!).

As a former software programmer, I am officially on record as saying I'd trust Marco's ears over somebody's code...theories are theories, the devil's in the details. Cheers,
Spencer

Hey Spencer - thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm sure there must be scientific reasons for what I'm hearing and likely they're buried in the ripping software.

My friend, whose system I've enjoyed over many years now, and where I've done lots of interesting comparisons, has a really nice analog rig (Teres/Shelter/Origin/Einstein). Just recently I brought my MW Transporter over there and we listened over a weekend, mostly comparing preamps and digital front ends (all very nice stuff too including the MW TP and Empirical PaceCar and Electrocompaniet player), throwing in his vinyl rig every now and then. I have to say that I still prefer vinyl - BUT that the margins are becoming narrower and narrower every time I've had the opportunity to make such comparisons. This, in spite of all the file ripping foibles mentioned here, given that all the PC files we were listening to had been ripped in iTunes to either AL or WAV or AIFF. I'm not suggesting you give up your analog, and I agree, there's lots to sort out in PC Audio. OTOH There is a whole lot to be desired for having an entire library of music at your fingertips that you can mix and match at will though without hesitations. It's definitely worth a listen to what's out there these days - you may be very pleasantly surprised that the margins of difference can be surprisingly narrow, with plenty to be enjoyed in both arenas.

Some utilities which may be of interest to Mac users:

XLD
A lossless audio format converter. Use the GUI version. IMO the best lossless format converter on mac and its free.
http://tmkk.hp.infoseek.co.jp/xld/index_e.html

Max
The best audio ripper on the Mac. Its like EAC on Windows. Free too. I wouldn't trust iTunes....
http://sbooth.org/Max/